Professor Narayan speaks out on the pitfalls of case reporting

A leading Professor of Medicine, KM Venkat Narayan, today published an editorial on the pitfalls facing Cases Journal. He warns of the dangers of overlooking the “numerator phenomenon” – that by publishing case reports purely on what has been seen or experienced (the numerator), we will not always get a true sense of the problem. Professor Narayan recommends that “continuous caution will be needed to keep cases in perspective, in the absence of denominator information, and to not allow the emotive forces behind case reporting to singly or dominantly influence policy.”

Narayan warns also of publication bias, and reminds potential authors that Cases Journal welcomes all cases – not only those that are clearly diagnosed, or on severe conditions.

Despite his words of warning, Professor Narayan has high hopes for our novel approach to case reporting: “Cases Journal is a bold experiment in health journalism. It can potentially help democratize the reporting of health and disease by widening the definition of cases to include those that matter not just to physicians but also to patients, their families, and to the community at large.”

You can share your opinions by posting a comment on this editorial. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.